The ability to determine ambient conditions at a remote site is of value to any owner of property when the owner is not in residence. When irregular conditions indicative of impending mishap or damage are detected, such as exceedingly low temperature or high humidity, an alert can be sent to the owner or his agent in time to minimize or prevent damage. In particular, owners of vacation homes benefit from remote sensing when conditions indicative of potential damage are detected and communicated to the owner.
A common means of monitoring is to have a neighbor or watch service monitor the remote property. This can be unreliable and puts at risk the objective of being alerted of certain conditions in a timely fashion. For example, if a failure occurs shortly after a monitoring visit, it can be many days or weeks until that failure is detected, and by then the damage will have already occurred.
Remote alarm systems using wired connections are well known. One such system is the Sensaphone® 400—Remote Monitoring and Control System. However, such systems require that a wired connection be maintained, and in the case where a telephone or internet line is used to connect the sensor or sensor monitor and provide a means for alerts to be sent, equipment must be provided to communicate over the line. Furthermore, the telephone or internet line must be functional. This can be particularly problematic during periods of severe weather, when above-ground communication lines are prone to mechanical disconnection and below-ground lines are prone electrical disconnection due to flooding. Additionally, the cost for providing and maintaining such lines can be significant.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,577,182, Millsap et al. propose a remote alarm system in which alarms are sent via a cellular phone connection. An alarm system is provided in which an alarm condition causes a cellular transceiver to automatically transmit a telephone call to an alarm monitoring station by over-the-air transmission of a signal to a cellular site. A computer at the cellular site provides communication between the cellular transceiver and an alarm company monitoring station.
Schechter et al., in U.S. Pat. No. 7,952,485, describe a similar system in which alert conditions are sent to a remote server. Units are registered and reporting times are established. Customers are alerted to conditions violating established limits.
What is needed is a remote sensing unit that can be easily installed and configured, that uses wireless cellular connectivity to send alerts, and that provides for additional sensing capabilities.